Monday, January 31, 2011

ERZURUM, Turkey – The U.S. Women's National University Team fell to Canada, 9-0, here today at the 2011 Winter World University Games. Heather Rossi (Effort, Pa./ Penn State University) and Katie Vaughan (South Park, Pa./ Penn State University) combined to stop 35 shots in the loss for the U.S., which is competing in the women's tournament for the first time.

Canada opened the scoring just two minutes into the game, and then gained a 3-0 lead before heading into the first intermission.

Only 26 seconds into the middle frame, Canada extended its lead to 4-0. Three straight goals carried them into the third period up 7-0.

Canada notched two more goals by the midway point of the final frame to seal its 9-0 victory.

Team USA will next face Great Britain in its final preliminary-round game on Wednesday (Feb. 2) at 5:30 a.m. EST.

Given that 91 percent of my page views come from the United States (I thought it would be higher too), I'm going to guess that most of you don't really care to read more than that anyway. Although if you do want more for some reason, here's the FISU highlight reel.

Penn State Update

Not a whole lot of positives to report. Heather Rossi started for the second consecutive game and gave up seven goals on 36 shots. She was then replaced by Katie Vaughan to start the third period, and Vaughan saved five of seven in mop-up duty...Lindsay Reihl was on ice for Canada goals number two, three and four spanning the first and second periods while Denise Rohlik was on for goal number six in the second. Neither recorded any shots or penalty minutes.

Slovakia smoked Great Britain 8-0 behind goals from six different players, including two from Petra Jurcova and Anna Dzurnakova, as well as a combined six-save shutout from Zuzana Tomcikova and Monika Kvakova...Finland - I just learned today that the Finns have five players (goalie Anna Vanhatalo and forwards Anne Helin, Venla Hovi, Annina Rajahuhta and Saara Tuominen) who won bronze at the Vancouver Olympics - ran up the score 32-0 over Turkey. Shots were 95-4. I don't think I gave Team USA enough credit yesterday for hanging in with this group.

Current Standings

GP W OTW OTL L PTS GF:GA

CAN 4 3 1 0 0 11 28:1

FIN 4 3 0 1 0 10 42:3

SVK 4 3 0 0 1 9 33:4

USA 4 1 0 0 3 3 17:17﻿﻿ GBR 4 1 0 0 3 3 10:28

TUR 4 0 0 0 4 0 0:77

The picture continues to crystallize. I'm going to assume Canada squeaks one out against Turkey to give them the top seed going into the semifinals, which are Friday. Finland and Slovakia have both clinched semifinal spots as well and will battle on Wednesday to determine which is second and which is third. The US-Great Britain matchup earlier that day will determine the final team advancing to the semifinals, with the loser playing Turkey for fifth place on Saturday.

Tim O'Brien and Team USA are looking to advance against Spain tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Photo: Shane Bufano

The men's team, and all of Group C for that matter, didn't play today before facing Spain in a vital game for both advancement and placement at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. The scheduled practice time for Team USA was 1:00 a.m. through 1:45 a.m. Lindenwood's Steve Balint offered slightly more detail in his tournament player blog.

Anyways, we have [today] off from games and we have practice at 8 a.m. and a team picture, followed by the women’s game against Canada.

In a thriller that wasn't decided by 65 minutes, Japan's Hiromichi Terao first tied the Czech Republic at 1 in the third period, then added the shootout winner as the Japanese clinched a quarterfinals bid with a 2-1 win. The Czechs will now have to sweat out their fate, although the extra point for the overtime loss and the good goal differential certainly help...Russia completed a clean sweep of Group A by drumming Turkey to the tune of 26-0. Nine players had at least five points, paced by eight from Stanislav Golovanov and five goals from Sergey Salnikov. The Russians were already through to the quarterfinals, but the huge goal differential more or less assures them the No. 1 seed...Canada got all they wanted from a South Korea team that had little to play for, but Brandon MacLean's power play marker midway through the third gave them a 3-2 win. The victory clinches a spot in the quarterfinals for the Canadians.

As mentioned, Russia (9 points, +31) and Japan (5, +18) have already clinched two of the eight quarterfinal spots by virtue of finishing as the top two of Group A. Canada (7, +9) has likewise clinched a top-two spot in Group B and will be in the final eight as well.

Another spot will go to the winner of the Belarus-Slovenia match tomorrow. Team USA is also in a win-and-in situation against Spain. Kazakhstan, with their tiebreaker advantages, would need a lot to go wrong to not get in. Slovakia, the Slovenia-Belarus loser and the Czech Republic are in the running for top-eight consideration as well.

Turkey and South Korea have been eliminated from quarterfinal contention and will participate in the 9th-12th place playoffs, beginning Thursday. Spain is likely to join them, even with win against Team USA, since they lose a head-to-head tiebreaker with Slovakia and aren't in a good position in terms of goal differential.

Time for the third edition of Scoreboard Watching. The Icers earned a crucial split with Delaware that sets things up quite well, but where does everyone else set up for the new rankings to be released Friday?

Since last time, I've removed No. 8 Minot State. The Beavers represented well with a split against Arizona State and have an easy schedule the rest of the way. The No. 7 Sun Devils also stay off as that split, combined with their sweep of Arizona over the weekend, represented their toughest remaining challenges. I think it's down to six teams for four spots, although that might be generous to Illinois - yep, I gave the Fighting Illini another reprieve, even though I said I wouldn't.

Illinois didn't play Purdue last weekend after all, and instead beat up on Ferris State on Saturday, in between the Bulldogs' Friday and Sunday games with Illinois' D2 team. Not sure what happened there, but no matter - Illinois pretty much needs to win out, do so convincingly, and hope for help.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

I think more that anything else, my No. 1 observation this weekend was the way hockey can get you riding the emotional roller coaster.

Circa Friday night, I was pretty upset. I was ready to tee off on a lot of things, both specific and general. A 2-7-0 record against the top ten this year (at that point) will do that to you, especially when your introduction to Penn State hockey was sometime during the whole ten championship games in a row thing.

Now, all of a sudden, I feel mostly okay. We survived a very good Delaware team with a split. Next week's opponent, the last in the gauntlet, hasn't exactly looked like world beaters without their World University Games players. Nor has Iowa State, one of the teams chasing the Icers for positions in the rankings, who managed two tight wins against ACHA D2 Colorado State over the weekend. In short, I'm no longer legitimately worried about Penn State needing one of these for their next trip to Newark.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all sunshine and puppies. I'm still not convinced that we're able to compete with the top of the ACHA when the stakes are equal for both sides. I'm disappointed that we're treating squeaking out a win to possibly save a nationals bid after being outplayed for the majority of the weekend as some kind of epic victory. I despise that we let the Blue Hens get in our heads and spent much of the two games tossing cheap verbal barbs their way. Or something a little more than a barb, like Marek Polidor at the end of the second period Saturday.

That's not the Penn State I know. But for this week at least, the full rant was postponed.

Okay, on to the actual game stuff...

Much like last week, the unheralded guys really stepped up for the Icers - go no further than the bookend goals on Saturday for evidence of that one.

First was Mike McDonagh, one of last weekend's heroes. He pounced on a neutral zone turnover, came in alone, was denied by goalie Nick Casella, then scored following up. Casella thought it was kicked in - don't ask me to judge things like that watching over the internet - but the officials disagreed. The game winner came off the stick of Mike Broccolo, who had a great weekend against West Chester too, just without the scoresheet cred, at the end of a tremendous shift by he and linemates Joe Zitarelli and Nick Seravalli. Broccolo actually came hard on the forecheck and made an interception to start that entire sequence. Well earned.

Much credit is also due Paul Daley. The guy found himself in the middle of a firestorm this week, but responded with a good weekend, particularly on Friday, when he had a hand in both Icers goals, including his score in the second period that tied the game, briefly, at one. And much like Broccolo last weekend, his efforts went beyond his point total. He's just one of those guys who plays well with a chip on his shoulder, clearly not for everyone, but it works for him.

Dan Petrick had an interesting weekend, to say the least. On Friday, Peter Crampton's eventual game winner bounced in off his body. Then on Saturday, he was victimized on Delaware's first goal when he lost track of David Conte. He counterbalanced this with saving a goal off of the goalline in the first period Saturday and by his generally steady play that makes him a personal favorite.

Matt Madrazo? Do I even need to talk about him anymore? Kid's a flat out stud. 79 of 85 for the weekend.

One major minus on Friday goes to Dominic Morrone for his senseless late-game penalty. How bad was it? Well, let me put it this way. Official write-ups are always dry and facts-only, right? Well, not in this case - the Delaware site's official write-up took the time to rip him.

In the games critical minutes Tasker continued his superb play, getting physical with Penn State forward Dominic Morrone. Morrone, a well-known hot head, took a terrible retaliation penalty giving the Hens a powerplay with just over five minutes remaining. Tasker buried a rebound off a one-timer blast from the point by junior Jason Michaud (Kennebunk, ME) just after the man-advantage had expired, locking up the 4-2 win for the home team.

The timing of the penalty was an absolute back-breaker to begin with - Penn State had cut the deficit back to one and was pushing for the tie. Then the Blue Hens compounded the error by scoring four seconds after the penalty expired in what I like to call "bonus time," those few seconds between the end of the penalty and the man getting back into the play. Steve Penstone said on the broadcast that a penalty should have been called on the initial coming together to which Morrone was responding. I didn't see it well enough to comment, and I'm okay taking his word for it, but you still need to keep your head.

To me, one final storyline for Friday's game was second chance opportunities. The stats say that Delaware outshot Penn State 40-27, and that advantage came in part because their attempts came in twos and ours came in ones. A lot of that is a credit to Delaware goalie SJ Broadt, I thought he was a vacuum cleaner on Friday, and what rebounds he did give up were quickly cleared. As a big believer in the value of getting to the front of the net, I'm also a big believer in the idea that the quickest way to shut down an offense is to not give them a reason to go there.

The Icers now go back home for two - it's been a while, the home games against Delaware were our last full home weekend - against Rhode Island for alumni weekend. I'll get a little bit into the Rams, both in the World University Games and not, as the week goes on, but the initial impression based on their games without the four players in Turkey? We can beat them, twice.

ERZURUM, Turkey – Michael Macari (Dearborn Heights, Mich./ University of Michigan Dearborn) recorded a three-point game and Tom Ciaverilla (Novi, Mich./ Adrian College) scored the game-winner, as the U.S. Men's National University Team defeated Slovakia, 7-3, here today at the Cemal Gürsel Sport Complex, in its second game of the 2011 Winter World University Games.

"The entire team played great and you could see our confidence building as the game went on," said Dave Debol, head coach of the U.S. Men's National University Team. "This game was pivotal for us. We put ourselves in a good spot, and now we have to compete well against Spain on Tuesday like we did today."

Slovakia opened the scoring 3:12 into the first period, but Team USA answered just 29 seconds later with Macari's first tally of the game. Kyle Krannich (Mendham, N.J./ University of Rhode Island) then gave the U.S. a 2-1 edge just over two minutes later, when he scored shorthanded on a breakaway.

With Team USA on the power play, Macari extended the U.S. lead to 3-1 at the 11:44 mark of the opening frame. Two minutes later, Team USA gained a 5-on-3 man advantage and Ciaverilla notched the eventual game-winner.

Slovakia scored on the power play with just over two minutes remaining in the first period, but the U.S. carried a 4-2 lead into intermission.

Brandon Contratto (West Bloomfield, Mich./ University of Michigan Dearborn) notched an early second-period goal on a breakaway to give Team USA a three-goal cushion. Slovakia narrowed the margin midway through the frame, but the U.S. answered with a goal two minutes later at the 11:21 mark. Tyler Pilmore (Sylvania, Ohio/ Ohio University) sent a feed to Steve Balint (Grosse Ile, Mich./ Lindenwood University) at the hash mark, who fired a shot past Slovakian goaltender Peter Pus to give the U.S. a 6-3 lead.

U.S. goaltender Dan Pyne (Warrington, Pa./ Drexel University) made 23 saves in the win, while Slovakian goaltenders Peter Pus and Michael Siarnik combined to stop 40 shots in the loss.

Team USA will next face Spain in its final preliminary-round game on Tuesday (Feb. 1) at 9 a.m. EST.

Penn State Update

Despite the seven goals scored by Team USA, neither Tim O'Brien or Eric Steinour recorded any points...O'Brien earned a +1 for the game by being on for Michael Macari's early first-period goal that evened the score at 1-1. Both players were on successful power play attempts as well, first O'Brien on Macari's second goal that made it 3-1 11:44 into the game, then Steinour just over three minutes later when Tom Ciaverilla scored with a two-man advantage...in all, O'Brien recorded four shots on goal, Steinour one...Steinour was 2-2 on draws, O'Brien won both of his attempts.

In an extremely physical game (90 total penalty minutes), Slovenia used Klemen Sodrznik's hat trick to help blow out South Korea 10-2...Spain goaltender Ander Alcaine Val turned in one of the tournament's best performances so far, saving an incredible 64 of 65 shots. However, Eduard Mazula's third period goal was enough for Kazakhstan, and an empty netter provided the final 2-0 margin. Kazakhstan has yet to surrender a goal in the tournament.

With two of three group games complete for each team, some scenarios are developing. Russia has clinched a quarterfinal spot and looks like the No. 1 seed going in with a likely sweep of Group A and the goal differential they'll build up by beating Turkey 20 or 25 to 0. Kazakhstan is a win against Slovakia away from likely taking the No. 2 spot, while Canada, Belarus and now Team USA also look good to make the quarterfinals. The Japan-Czech Republic tilt tomorrow may prove to be an elimination game, but then again, maybe not, with both teams carrying hefty goal differentials. Thanks, Turkey.

For the Americans, a regulation win against Spain gets them in and with six total points - ideally, this will be enough to get up to the No. 5 seed, avoiding some of the top teams, but there's still a lot yet to be decided before anyone can make a call on that.

While the loss stings, it probably has to be considered a nice showing against the defending bronze medalists. We'll once again let USA Hockey tell the story.﻿﻿

Megan Winters (top), Heather Rossi (bottom)

ERZURUM, Turkey – Megan Winters (Basking Ridge, N.J./ Northeastern University) scored late in the third period to bring Team USA within one goal, but the U.S. Women's National University Team dropped a 3-1 decision to Finland here today at the 2011 Winter World University Games. The U.S., which is competing in the women's tournament for the first time, now has a 1-0-0-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record.

After a scoreless first period, Finland gained a 1-0 lead at the 4:44 mark of the middle frame. The goal was reviewed for a possible high stick, but remained as called on the ice. Finland scored less than three minutes later to take a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.

Team USA started the third period with a 5-on-3 penalty kill. Then, with only 2:51 remaining in regulation, the U.S. reduced Finland's lead to 2-1 while on the power play. Shea Crawford (Selbyville, Del./ Lindenwood University) sent a pass to Winters, who fired a slap shot past Finnish goaltender Anna Vanhatalo for the score.

The U.S. sent an extra skater to the ice with 1:25 left in the final frame, but Finland notched an empty-netter to seal its 3-1 victory.

Goaltender Heather Rossi (Effort, Pa./ Penn State University) stopped 34 shots in the loss for Team USA, while Vanhatalo made 12 saves in the win for Finland.

The U.S. will next face off against Canada on Monday (Jan. 31) at 4 a.m. EST.

Penn State Update

It was again Heather Rossi's turn between the pipes, and she responded tremendously, with 34 saves on 36 shots (the third Finland goal was on an empty net). Both Finnish goals against Rossi came among a bombardment of 16 shots during the second period...Lindsay Reihl committed a high sticking infraction at 5:15 of the second period. The penalty was killed, although Finland scored 11 seconds after it ended while she was on the ice...Denise Rohlik did not record any statistics.

Non-competitive games were the order elsewhere. ﻿﻿﻿﻿Canada got revenge on Great Britain for that whole colonization thing to the tune of 14-0. Candice Styles had four of the goals, Breanne George added three more and two assists and Andrea Boras assisted on five. Shots on goal were 48-4...Slovakia beat Turkey even worse than that - 20-0. In a game full of gaudy scoring numbers, Martina Velickova's four goals and four assists stand out. Shots in this one were 73-6.

Current Standings

GP W OTW OTL L PTS GF:GA

CAN 3 2 1 0 0 8 19:1

FIN 3 2 0 1 0 7 10:3

SVK 3 2 0 0 1 6 25:4

USA 3 1 0 0 2 3 17:8﻿﻿

GBR 3 1 0 0 2 3 10:20

TUR 3 0 0 0 3 0 0:45

Even with two games left in the round robin for each team, it's pretty easy to see how things are shaping up.

Canada has dominated throughout, and it will take a pretty big upset at this point for them not to be semifinal seed No. 1. ﻿﻿﻿﻿

Finland and Slovakia do battle Wednesday, which in all likelihood (since both hold tiebreaker advantages over Team USA) to determine the 2nd and 3rd teams - although the order doesn't really matter that much, since they'd play again in the semifinal.

Earlier that day, the US plays Great Britain, which may decide the last semifinal spot.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Penn Stater Eric Steinour and Team USA will look to bounce back against Slovakia tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Photo: Shane Bufano

While action proceeded in Groups A and B today (see below), Team USA and the rest of Group C had the day off from games, although the American delegation did have a scheduled practice from 2:00-2:45 a.m.

Marat Valiullin's three-point night helped power the Russians past the Czech Republic 5-1. Russia cracked open what had been a tight game with three third-period goals, and now only Turkey now stands between them and a sweep of Group A. I'm pretty confident in how that game will go...Hayato Ebata, Naoto Mizuuchi and Hiromichi Terao all had hat tricks as Japan took their turn padding stats against Turkey, 18-0...in the best game of the men's tournament so far, Belarus jumped into the Group B driver's seat by taking down heavy favorite Canada 3-2 in a shootout. Pavel Razvadouski forced extra hockey with 49 seconds left, and Artsiom Demkov added two goals and an assist, including the shootout winner.

There's even less to discuss on the women's side of things, as the entire field was game-free today. Each team had scheduled ice time for practice, with Team USA's taking place from 7:00-7:45 a.m. Just to rehash where things stand...

Friday, January 28, 2011

Information about this one was extremely slow getting over from Turkey, so absent an official write-up, here's the USA Hockey blog post about the game, which offers the best detail of anyone out there.

End of the 1st period in Turkey, and the USA trails 2-0. The 2nd goal coming on the power play. #23 James Telfer has suffered an injury and is out of the game. It has has been a very physical game for both teams, everything that is moving is being hit. Shots in the first were KAZ-13, USA-10. #1 Erik Hudson starts in goal for Team USA.

2nd period – Team USA in the box at 13:13 for roughing. Kazakhstan to the powerplay. Kazakhstan cashes in from the point to make it 3-0. That’s their 2nd goal on the powerplay….Another penalty to the US, this time for hooking. Kazakhstan back on the powerplay……USA kills that one, but takes another penalty for delay of game, shooting the puck out of the rink, with 3:29 left in the 2nd. USA kills the penalty, and the period ends. Shots were 11-9 for Kazakhstan that period. After two, shots are 24-KAZ, 19-USA. USA is 0-3 on the powerplay. Kazakhstan is 2-4.

3rd period – Kazakhstan tallies early to make it 4-0….and then the USA takes a roughing penalty at the 18:51 mark…Kazakhstan connects again to make it 5-0, with it’s 3rd pp goal…11:00 left, still 5-0…USA on the PP with 9:40 left…make that a 5-on-3 now…but the USA can not connect on either chance. Another pp for the USA late in the game, but it’s an 0-fer fday on the pp. Final – 5-0 for Kazakhstan.

Also, here's some video evidence of Borat's revenge.

Penn State Update

Tim O'Brien and Eric Steinour both did well on their faceoffs, with 3-0 and 3-1 records, respectively. Steinour had three shots on goal (of Team USA's 37) playing on a line with Oakland's Kevin Kranker and Adrian's Tom Ciaverilla, while O'Brien added a shot and played with Dearborn's Brandon Contratto and Rhode Island's Kyle Krannich. Both players were on ice for a Kazakhstan goal in the third period - Steinour first, then O'Brien - but both avoided participating in the parade to the penalty box that ulimately played a huge role in Team USA's undoing.

Cumulative PSU Stats

GP G A PTS +/- PIMTim O'Brien 1 0 0 0 -1 0Eric Steinour 1 0 0 0 -1 0

Other Games

In the other Group C game today, Slovakia beat up on underdog Spain 8-1...the Slovaks are Team USA's next opponent at 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning, followed by Spain in the last game of group play on Tuesday...Belarus defeated South Korea by a similar 8-1 score, thanks to goals from eight different players, including Pavel Razvadouski's three-point effort.

To the USA Hockey recap we go. It's long, because that's what happens when you drop a 15-bomb on someone.

Rohlik, because Ducie is bad at choosing colleges.

ERZURUM, Turkey – Paced by a seven-point effort from Justine Ducie (Sandwich, Mass./ University of Rhode Island/1-6), the U.S. Women's National University Team defeated Turkey, 15-0, here today at the 2011 Winter World University Games. Eight players registered two-point games and 13 players scored for the U.S., which is competing in the women's tournament for the first time.

Team USA took an early 2-0 lead just over two minutes into the first period. Megan Winters (Basking Ridge, N.J./ Northeastern University) notched the eventual game-winner at the 1:14 mark, and Terra Payne (Gaylord, Mich./ Michigan State University) scored just :58 later.

Samantha Redick (Anchorage, Alaska/ Lindenwood University) gave the U.S. a three-goal cushion less than three minutes later, when she netted a shorthanded tally. At the 7:23 mark, Shea Crawford (Selbyville, Del./ Lindenwood University) increased Team USA's lead to 4-0.

The U.S. then scored three times in under three minutes to go up 7-0 in the opening frame, with two goals from Erica Wynn (Anchorage, Alaska/ Lindenwood University) and one from Christina Young (Stafford, Va./ Michigan State University). Shelby Kucharski (Livonia, Mich./ Grand Valley State University) assisted on Wynn's pair and Ducie collected assists on all three tallies.

Emily Nelson (Harper Woods, Mich./ University of Michigan) added a power-play goal with less than three minutes left in the period to give Team USA an 8-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

The U.S. then scored three goals to go up, 11-0, midway through the second frame. Ducie fired a shot past Turkish goaltender Berfu Merve Bolulu at the 2:54 mark, then Ashley Rumsey (West Olive, Mich./ Grand Valley State University) and Ramey Weaver (Eagle River, Alaska/ Robert Morris University Illinois) scored 32 seconds apart.

With just over five minutes remaining in the middle frame, Nelson tallied her second goal of the game and Denise Rohlik (Raleigh, N.C./ Penn State University) scored 1:23 later to lead the U.S. into the third period up, 13-0.

Allysson Arcibal (Vista, Calif./ Lindenwood University) and Tiffany Juha (Cape Coral, Fla./ California University of Pennsylvania) each notched a goal in the final frame to complete Team USA's 15-0 victory.

The U.S. will next face off against Finland on Sunday (Jan. 30) at 8 a.m. EST.

Penn State Update

Today Katie Vaughan was in net, backed up by Heather Rossi. The result was probably the easiest shutout Vaughan will get in her life, as she faced two shots over the entire game, including none in the third period and none from closer than the top of the circles...with Team USA's 15 goals scored by 13 different players, there were plenty of stars today, but Denise Rohlik has to be one of them. She scored a late second period goal to make it 13-0, assisted on the 9-0 and 10-0 goals earlier in the period, and was on ice for an incredible seven of the 15 goals, including Samantha Redick's first-period shorty. Perhaps contributing to that plus-minus: a 17-7 faceoff record...Lindsay Reihl had an assist on Emily Nelson's second period goal and sat for a first-period trip that was successfully killed (obviously).

The favored Canadians dominated Slovakia (47-6 shots on goal) and sat on three first period goals as the final 3-0 margin. Beth Clause had the six-save shutout...Finland turned in a similarly thorough effort against Great Britain, except with double the goals in a 6-0 win.

Just when I thought I was done with the worst post title I've ever written until the end of days, there it is again, right on the eve of possible season-defining games on the Olympic ice at No. 4 Delaware's Fred Rust Ice Arena tonight at 7:00 p.m. and tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.

This might end up being a pretty short post, for a couple reasons. First of all, it hasn't actually been that long since last time on the college hockey clock. Four weekends, eight games. Secondly, the Blue Hens get screwed in the school paper coverage department - as far as I can tell, this November 8th article that I used last time the teams played is the most recent thing the UD Review has to show for their hockey coverage.

The good news is that the person who writes the game recaps for UD's website actually, you know, writes, so that should help us out. Sometimes that official site stuff can be painful - "Pat Verbeek scored, assisted by Andrew Cassels and Adam Burt. Then the other team scored. Then the other team scored again. Then Geoff Sanderson scored, assisted again by Cassels. Sean Burke played well in goal." Make sure you get as many names in as possible for the parents, and try to use their real names, and not 1990s-era Hartford Whalers as fill-ins.

The 3rd period was all Delaware as they buried three insurance markers to handily take the first game of the weekend and third of the year from RMU. Goals were scored by [Dave] Lombardi, [Vinny] Pontrello, and freshman Nick Lepore. Sophomore Nick Casella made 24 saves in net for the win, his 12th of the season.

Saturday:

Despite several starters out due to injury and exams, Delaware looked to familiar faces to lead them in their comeback. [Mike] Piet scored again, this time on the powerplay 1:46 into the [third] period. The goal was his fourth in his last four games and brought the Hens and Colonials back to even at 5-5. Just two minutes later [Christian] Tasker deflected junior Jason Michaud's shot in to give the Hens the lead for good. Junior Kevin Miller added an insurance goal on the powerplay with 1:44 to play.

Two big third periods, six different goal scorers. Delaware in a nutshell.

The Mountaineers hung tough for two games this weekend, utilizing a collapse and clutter style defense in their own end to frustrate the Blue Hens.

Collapse and clutter?
﻿

Makes sense, since half of all Hoarders episodes are filmed in West Virginia.

﻿
All of this winning (remember, UD's only regulation loss to this point was against the Icers in December) put the Blue Hens in a showdown for first place in the ESCHL with Rhode Island, which went a little better for next week's opponent than it did for this week's. In game one, Delaware held a 3-1 lead after one period, then gave up five unanswered the rest of the way. Then in game two, UD again had a second period lead thanks to Ryan McDonald's pair, but gave up the equalizer 25 seconds after taking the lead and eventually fell 3-2 in overtime.

Last weekend, Delaware went back to Pittsburgh to play Washington & Jefferson in games that were only entertaining because of how upset the team was at having to play them. This tweet from Zach Reubel while on the road was fairly representative:

Three doo doo movies, zero food stops, five long hours. The lost weekend off to a rousing start. Thanks, Deangelis

DeAngelis, of course, is former Delaware coach Mike, who apparently scheduled the games. Considering the Blue Hens won 11-1 and 17-4, Reubel kind of has a point.

Which brings us to now, and a couple pretty important games, if you haven't heard. A great rivalry. Second place in the ESCHL on the line. And possibly Penn State's season. Despite Josh Weiner's highly-publicized tweet however, I'm not convinced the Hens can put a nail in the coffin of the Icers' season - as long as an 0-2 is followed up with a 2-0 against Rhode Island next week. I've said many times that we need 2-2 over the next two weeks, and I really don't care where the wins fall on the calendar. That said, needing a sweep is a lot to ask, and URI doesn't suck even without their WUG players, so...maybe not the final nail, but at the very least, PSU will be up against it big time without a split or sweep here.

Put all that together with seeing if Paul Daley survives to Sunday and yeah, this is going to be fun.

Outside Reading

VFTB did a great job with something I didn't pay enough attention to on here - the sudden retirement of Michigan State's Rick Comley, effective at the end of the season. Don't think that doesn't affect Penn State either, as both programs will be in the market for some of the top coaches in college hockey. Oh, and Josh Hand also gets an interview in the post. And he linked me. Basically, the post is a few copy/pasted tweets from perfection, check it out.

Mr. Penstone also got freshmen Matt Madrazo and Mike McDonagh to say things to a camera. Needless to say, the Icers would be in a pretty tough spot without those two.

Finally, the Collegian informs us that Icers D Kevin Miller is out for the weekend (along with Taylor Cera and the WUG players of course). Also, everyone's over the Twitter incident, but still talking about it.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Unfortunately, Team USA's highly-anticipated WUG debut didn't go very well, as the Americans dropped a 5-1 decision to Slovakia. Since I didn't see the game, I'm going to have to rely heavily (okay, entirely) on the USA Hockey release. Thanks, USA Hockey.

Samantha Redick scored Team USA's goal.

ERZURUM, Turkey – The U.S. Women's National University Team fell to Slovakia, 5-1, here today in its opening game of the 2011 Winter World University Games. Samantha Redick (Anchorage, Alaska/ Lindenwood University) scored for the U.S., which is competing in the women's tournament for the first time.

"It's pretty exciting for all of us to be a part of the first U.S. women's team at this event and represent our country," said Mo Stroemel, head coach of the U.S. Women's National University Team. "It is a tough loss for the first outing, but we have a chance to bounce back with a game again tomorrow against the host country."

Slovakia took a 3-0 lead early in the second period, before the U.S. responded with a goal at the 10:20 mark of the middle frame. Ashley Rumsey (West Olive, Mich./ Grand Valley State University) sent a pass to Redick, who fired a shot past Slovakia goaltender Zuzana Tomcikova for Team USA's first goal of the tournament.

Slovakia added two more goals in the third period to seal the victory, 5-1.

Goaltender Heather Rossi (Effort, Pa./ Penn State University) made 18 saves for the U.S. in the loss.

Team USA will next face host Turkey tomorrow (Jan. 28) at 4 a.m. EST.

Penn State Update

Heather Rossi started and finished the game in net for Team USA, recording 18 saves on 23 shots...Lindsay Reihl was paired with Lindenwood's Shea Crawford on defense and was a -2 (on ice for the Slovakia goals that made it 2-0 at 13:36 of the first period and 3-0 at 0:48 of the second period. She also took a holding penalty at 8:05 of the third period that was successfully killed...Denise Rohlik and Katie Vaughan (obviously, since Rossi played the whole game) did not record any stats.

In a possible preview of a game that might happen again in the not-too-distant future, Ellie Seedhouse's shootout winner gave Canada a 2-1 decision over Finland. Marieve Provost's goal with 1:29 left had forced overtime...Great Britain demolished Turkey 10-0.